The Story of Your Organic Cotton Face Mask

Covid 19: More and more of us are looking to protect ourselves when we venture outside for shopping and exercise. Face masks are now being recommended for situations where it’s hard to keep a necessary distance. At Khadi London we feel it’s important that these face coverings are natural and breathable. We wanted to create washable/re-usable Organic Cotton Face Masks which would be good for you and the planet.

We’ve got together with Where Does It Come From? and our social enterprise partners in India to create our new range of masks that are:

🌱created from 100%
organic cotton grown in India
🌱grown from seed
native to the area,
🌱so fed by the rain
and with no chemical pesticides,
🌱spun and woven by
hand into fabric,
🌱without bleach or
non-natural dyes or other additives,
🌱without any
plastic,
🌱in a social
enterprise providing rural livelihoods.

We’ve designed the masks to have a double layer of handwoven fabric . They offer protection for personal use whilst being comfortable, natural, and, most importantly re-usable. The string ties mean the size can be easily adjusted.

Each pack purchased will give a donation to UK Charity The Trussell Trust and the khadi social enterprise in India, Gram Sewa Mandal, (GSM). Gram Sewa Mandals supports organic cotton in the regions and processes it for making fabric.

Rainfed Organic Cotton from Maharashtra and Gujarat, India

Your organic cotton face mask is made from desi (indigenous) cotton. Desi cotton is a sustainable crop. It is also resilient to the climate and the local pests that threaten the crops. Therefore it requires little or no additional water or pesticides. Since the introduction of genetically modified varieties (known as BT cotton) most indigenous varieties have died out, sucking farmers into a cycle of buying BT seeds annually instead of the traditional process of saving seeds from the previous year’s crop.

Initially the new varieties save the farmers money on fertilisers and pesticides. Soon they lose their effects and the farmers end up in financial difficulties. due to the requirement to re-buy seeds annually, plus chemical fertilisers and pesticides. The BT crops are also much more likely to fail in a drought. The indigenous cotton works with the climate and not against it – as one farmer put it in the context of indigenous cotton of the desert region of Kutch in Gujarat, ‘Kala cotton is as old as the land here’ – fields can grow sufficient cotton for thousands of metres of fabric, often with little rainfall and no irrigation..

We’ve sourced the fabric for our organic cotton face masks from two of our social enterprise partners – one based in Gujarat in north west India and the other in Maharastra – in western India. Their cotton fabrics were selected for your mask not only due to their social and environmental benefits, but also because they have a unique feel and are comfortable to wear.

Our masks are made with khadi – hand spun and handwoven fabrics which Gandhi revived khadi about a hundred years ago. Khadi played an important role in India’s non-violent campaign for independence. And khadi also helped in creating a vision for self-dependent communities. Ideally all value addition, from cotton to ginning, carding, roving and spinning takes place within a cluster of villages. It is an important source of livelihood and provides additional income to farmers and artisans. Khadi is part of Gandhi’s vision for decentralised, democratic and diverse systems of production in village clusters. Innovations in spinning, weaving and related technologies have helped khadi survive and evolve over the decades.

Spinning

The fabrics are spun on Amber charkhas – mini version of the industrial ring frame spinning machines. These are traditionally operated by hand. Majority of the khadi spinners countrywide are women, working from home or in work sheds. They are paid fair wages and benefit from health and welfare programmes.

Recent innovations include the introduction of solar power to reduce strain for the spinners and improve quality and productivity. One of our partners, Udyog Bharti, has been at the forefront of developing solar energy applications for Amber charkhas.

Weaving cotton

Image credit: Alberto Balazs

Hand weaving was the first to survive competition from British mills. A handloom sector which mostly uses mill made yarn has developed independent of khadi. Handloom and khadi often compete for state resources and markets. Khadi organises its own weaving. In recent years there has been a welcome trend of the two sectors working together.

Except in more remote regions of India the traditional pit looms have
been replaced by stand looms – generally easier to operate and more efficient. Weaving
traditions have evolved, often while staying rooted in the family. A recent
innovation that has helped both the handloom and khadi sector is the adaptation
of looms for weaving denim.

Gram Sewa Mandal (GSM) is centrally located. It is a few miles from Wardha, a junction where two major lines of India intersect: one from Kolkata in the east to Mumbai in the west and the other from Delhi in the north to Chennai in the South. Located in a rural setting GSM has an organic farm, a khadi unit where the cotton is processed and spun, a mini oil crushing unit and a printing press. Within GSM there is a strong sense of community and commitment.

It also has a strong connect with neighbouring villages and beyond, a connect which enriches life in the community. GSM plays a lead role in helping farmers change over from BT cotton to organic desi cotton, providing them with seeds, marketing and training support.

In recent years, the khadi unit where the cotton is processed and spun has undergone a makeover. Young professionals from urban Maharastra have been at the forefront of this change. Old machines used for pre-spinning processes have or are being replaced by more modern, efficient ones. Connections have been made with ethical consumer networks to help market the cloth. There is a focus on exchange of ideas, not just goods and money. There is also a focus on experimentation, experience and learning.

Image credit: Alberto Balazs

GSM also has a weaving centre in a nearby village, Nalwadi. Weaving in the region has traditionally been a men’s preserve; with men doing the weaving and women playing supplementary roles. GSM is changing this by training women in weaving.

Image credit: Susanta Biswas/WBKVIB

Udyog Bharti

The production of organic khadi started a small initiative in collaboration with two other organisations – Jatan Trust which promotes organic farming in India, and, Weaverbird, an ethical fashion start-up founded by Medha Shah. Medha started working with one farming family in Rajkot district about five years ago, close to where Udyog Bharti is located. The premises of her interaction with the farmers was simple – if they agreed to go organic, she would help them get a premium price for the cotton. She coordinated with Udyog Bharati for getting the cotton spun and woven. She then helped with the marketing of the fabric and of clothing and accessories designed by her.

Image credit: Medha Shah

Image credit: Medha Shah

Udyog Bharti has built on this to expand the production of organic khadi in response to a growing demand for natural ethical products. The number of farmers it sources from is growing as is its range of organic khadi fabrics. The latest editions include naturally dyed indigo organic khadi denim.

UK – Your Organic Cotton Mask was sewn in the UK

In
normal times we have our clothing and accessories sewn by social enterprises in
India or Africa. Unfortunately this has not been possible due to export
restrictions and so we have built a small team of sewers in the UK. We are very
grateful to them for getting involved!

Fortunately Where Does It Come From? had already been working on a face mask design for thier sewing group – Where Does It Come From? Make and Mend. To turn this into a product for sale required further design work and testing by their product manager Lucy Kerry. Lucy has been sewing masks and has been joined by Asha Buch from Khadi London and Claire Couchman who runs the ethical tailor Couchman Bespoke.

Due
to Covid 19 our design meetings have been via Zoom – here we are planning our
mask production….

Mask Makers (Image credit: Jo Salter)

Where Does It Come From?

Your organic cotton face mask is brought to you by Khadi London, an organisation which supports and promotes the use of natural fabrics from India, for positive social and environmental benefits.

For this project we are working with our friends at Where Does It Come From?, a brand set up in 2013 to create clothing and textiles that are kind to the planet and the people who make them. Kind to you too, not only because of the natural way in which the clothes are made but also because knowing the story gives you peace of mind that you are supporting projects that help the environment and are fair to the makers.

Both organisations are passionate about inspiring others to shop with more thought about the impacts of their clothing and to offer insight and alternatives to mainstream ‘fast fashion’ and cheap merchandise. We really hope that your face mask gives positive benefits to your life at this time.

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